Association between history of tuberculosis and vegetarianism from a nationally representative survey in India

A vegetarian diet has been implicated as a risk factor for tuberculosis (TB) among South Asians in the United Kingdom. To explore whether this is also the case in India, we analysed data from the nationally representative National Family Health Survey-3 (2006) which collected information on TB and diet, and tested for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) 1. TB was reported by heads of households. Using logistic regression, we found that vegetarianism was not a risk factor for TB among HIV-1 negative married men and women aged 15 - 49 (women) or 15-54 (men) years (OR 0.66, 95%CI 0.49 - 0.89), while poverty and a history of blood transfusions were.

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